75 rafters tackle the Clark Fork River at reunion

Last Sunday, the Clark Fork River saw a surge of activity as about 75 family members from the Ward family reunion piled into eight whitewater rafts and floated from the Sander’s County Fairgrounds in Plains to the “Mouth,” an inlet about 10 miles toward Thompson Falls from Plains.

Paradise Rafting rented six boats to the family and two boats were rented from the Montana State University. The family started their trip at 11 a.m., stopped for lunch half way through their trip and started arriving at the Mouth around 2:30 p.m. Every three years the Ward family holds their reunions and have done them 10 times during the last thirty years.

Family member Dorothy Reid came from as far as Juneau, Alaska to attend the reunion. She said that she wasn’t expecting the raft trip to be as wet and wild as it was.

“It was fun, but we weren’t expecting to get so wet. These guys are into water fights,” Reid said.

Another family member, Margo Hendrix, said that she had a blast going down the river and wanted to do it again sometime.

“We had a wonderful time, there was a little bit of screaming in places,” Hendrix joked, referring to the rapids, “but we had a good time.”

Hendrix said that her favorite part about the reunion and the whitewater excursion was the family camaraderie.

“It’s a wonderful family thing, our kids get to know each other,” she said and added that the exciting outdoor events give the youth in their family an incentive to come on the trips.

“They’ll come if we do things like this,” Hendrix said. She also pointed out that family members ranged in age from Avonlea Anderson, age 2, to Teresa Ward, age 95.

Alie Ward, from Los Angeles Calif., said that she even put her hectic job as an arts and entertainment editor at the L.A. Times on hold for a couple of days so she could enjoy the trip. “This is the first day I haven’t brought my blackberry or had access to it,” Ward said. “I haven’t thought about deadlines or anything.”

Ward also said that the verdant atmosphere and rural backdrop offered a nice reprieve from L.A.’s urban environment.

“We don’t have trees like this in L.A. and it smells so different,” Ward said. She also mentioned that not having to follow celebrity exploits was a definite plus.

Wendy Nielson, who helped coordinate the family reunion, said that the 95-plus family members have taken up the entire Lakeshore Motel in Trout Creek and surrounding area with their campsites, RVs and even an 18-foot diameter teepee. “Trout Creek will never be the same,” Nielson said laughing.

She said that family chose to hold the reunion in Trout Creek because of its accommodations, proximity to a river and space available for camping and RV parking.

“I think the reunion is more fun than is legal to have,” Nielson said. “We’ve had a wonderful time and might be back next time.”

She explained that the family originally homesteaded near Galata and that many of the family members still live in the area.

Sebastian and Linda Black, owners of Paradise Rafting, said that the trip has been the largest they’ve had this year and were happy to have helped the Wards with their reunion.

“It’s nice when you can see families get out and just get out on the river,” Black said.

If their post-float smiles and light-hearted joking weren’t a telling sign of the family’s affinity for each other and the trip, their green family reunion T-shirts might be the tangible proof. In large letters the shirts read “ŠMy share of the food, $100. My room, $175. Therapy to recover, $10,000. A Ward family reunion in Trout Creek, MontanaŠPriceless.”